In the Time Between
by Risulyn
Summary: Ryodan has locked himself away from the world (Dani) and has left his trusted brothers in arms (Ha!) to look after her. it's a thankless job but someone has to do it though it's not like those tasked have much of a choice in the matter. This is a very short story, snippets of the thoughts of a certain member of the 10 (we know about).
1. Chapter One

_The first cut is the deepest_

Ryodan walks away. Leaves Dani, our fast little woman, with his number and a shit ton of teenage angst. Fuck. We've been watching her since she was just a kid, figuring out what she could do under Rowena's tight firsted reign, then Mac's clumsy mothering, and finally into her own brand of super hero. When she'd disappeared, we'd all been certain she'd need us, or more directly Ryodan or Barrons and she'd come back sooner rather than later.

We didn't know about her slipping into the silvers until valuable time had passed. Barrons had withheld that vital little bit of information. Ryodan's mark, meant for us to further keep tabs on her had been an epic bust. The destruction the boss had wreaked on his personal space and various parts of our underground home had been a thing of pure fucking beauty. He'd been riding on the edge of beast and man, prolonging his own agony, swamped in a raging mix of guilt and fury.

We'd all stood back, our own animals rattling deep in our chests, letting him get it out. Most of the nine didn't have the emotional attachment to Dani that the boss has. There's something going on with her that only Ryodan is aware of. Have I asked him about it? Not a fucking chance. He only tells us what we absolutely need to know and half the fucking time? We don't need to know much past what's going on in the next week. Ryo's got the thousand yard stare.

I look for the nearest blond in my vicinity. Priorities. I definitely got mine in line.

Problem is, I have an emotional attachment to her. Don't know what Ryo's gaze saw in me that made him think that the neanderthal "Bonecrusher" would make a good babysitter, but I've been keeping an eye on Dani for years and been rooting herself deep in my gut (fuck it, my heart) from pretty much day one.

The fucker stalking into the shadows. He's another story altogether; his head needs a good firm yank from the region of his ass. He's thousands of years old and leaving his future in the hands of...well, she's years older but compared to us, is still infantile. I rub my hand down my face and flip the bird in Ryodan's general direction. I hope like hell one of them breaks down and calls the other.

Dani is the bane of my fucking existence. Quite possibly the love of my platonic life. It takes a week for me to get her routine and it's not hard to see that it consists mainly of burying whatever she's feeling for Ryodan with work. With inhuman ears, I know she's failing miserably; I can hear her adding a laundry lists of grievances against the world in general and Ryodan specifically into a "box". I keep copious notes and plan on letting Ryodan know, in graphic detail, all the ways in which Dani feels he's fucked up.

I growl when she throws some shade at me. What the fuck did I do? I'm here. Watching over her ass like the boss has asked me too. She's dragging me around Dublin, out to the abby, to Barron's bookstore where her thin frame sags just a bit, past Chesters where her body tenses and does the thousand mile per second vibrate for hours at a time and leaving smelling like ancient paper, and finally, past the new fae club. There's not enough quick energy foods around anymore. We both fuckihng hate this place. People died in Chesters, willing sacrifices to the pseudo gods of lust and greed that pulled at the weak and the false sense of security others wanted to feel, as if Chesters was a sanctuary against a world that now violently killed with no rhyme or reason.

Mac's rule about leaving the fae alone doesn't sit well with anyone but the fae. It's pissing Dani off. I see her hand wander over to her sword, stroke it as she stares at what should frankly be free game, then move on. Little honey, we wish. I'm pretty sure we'd both like to get our hands on Mac and give her a good shake. Well, I'd do more, but that's a personal preference. She doesn't move in hyper speed any longer. The availability of quick, energy bumping foods has been reduced and she's learned to be smart.

She lifts her nose in the air and starts heading towards it. In reaction to her hunger, my own stomach rumbles beneath my silent heart. I need to eat.

Only myself, Fade, and Kasteo remain freely roaming in Dublin. Ryodan's on lockdown, Barrons is tied to his woman, the newest of our numbers is in Scotland learning control, and the rest most likely have a laundry list of shit to do given to them by the boss in the hopes of keeping them busy and under the radar. Ireland has been our seat of power for decades, but the boss is anything but short sighted. The world is ripe for raising an empire and to do that, expansion is a must.

For now, Chesters as our base of operations is dark. Though the bulk of our base sustained minimal damage, without the rest of the once nine, the base doesn't sit well with those of us that remain. I only return to grab shit that I might want or to make sure squatters haven't taken the notion to take up residence in our space. No human, long time resident of Dublin or new arrival, goes too near it. The light fae aren't keen on toeing the remaining wards. The dark fae, those fuckers, they sniff around a little close for comfort on occasion.

Dani has hidey holes all over the city and to the untrained eye, she picks one at random to crash every few days. I know her better than any human, and second best to the boss. I can spot her moods a mile out and figure what pad she's going to crash at. Most often, when she's been running towards empty for a bit, she'll head to a high end loft. A huge grin spreads across my face. I don't think she realizes it, but the style and furnishings mimc Ryodan's personal taste. She's so his, she doesn't even know it yet. I get a sick kick out of seeing what she wants so clearly when Ryodan pinwheels in indecision.

A scowl spreads across my face as a young man steps into her path on her way to the flat. Honey's tall, taller than the guy hitting on her, and she's bright. Not just the vibrant hair or vivid green eyes; she radiates power and vitality. Baring teeth, I mentally curse my directive, which is stay the fuck out of her way and let her live her life. It's hard. She's too good for this puny man. Fuck, she's too good for any pathetic human man.

When she brushes him off and he walks away dejected, I thank whatever's out there that we've never become fathers of daughters. We'd go bug fuck or lay waste to empires if someone was sniffing around them. Mad respect for Ryo that he allowed Dani to love and have sex with her Dancer. I'd have murdered the boy and never thought twice about it.

She blasts away, moving faster than she had before the silvers and a little faster yet since she's been isolated in the city. We move parallel to each other, her into her flat and myself to a building slightly lower than hers and into the shadows that hug me when I chose it. I watch as she downs food, moves restlessly around her space, occasionally stopping to groom her Hel-cat.

Fuck. Like a pair of females, Dani and I cycle together. By the time my heart's stopped beating from my last meal and I'm ready to hunt down an available blonde, Dani dances. I don't stay to watch. Somewhere along the way, she developed a sensual side that my beast will not ignore, no matter how the "man" feels about her. With a snort, I turn away from the large windows framing Dani's space and text Fade to come spell me.

I'd feel sorry for Ryodan if he hadn't put himself into time out. If he could see Dani now, he'd put aside his reservations and just make her his.

An alert sounds on my phone and I check it only to growl impotency on the bastard Fade. Like hell I'm anything like a woman.

When I can hear Fade a block away, I take off, stripping clothes as I go. I'll eat. Take a dip in one of the public fountains that's been restored, and see if I can't entice a blond with this form to satisfy some other urges plaguing me.


	2. Chapter Two

_The Kids Aren't Alright_

We toy with disobeying Mac's orders more often than we should. No, I haven't disobeyed and talked to Dani. It's driving Dani nuts. Unlike Ryodan, Dani doesn't need to be in total control; she just needs to know what's going on, have her finger on the pulse of the city. In the six months since the "major players" have vacated the city, the fae have resumed acting like spoiled children who've just gotten their favorite toy back from being grounded from it. It's killing her because those "toys" are her people. It's not as bad as when the walls fell but for Dani, all fae are bad fae. In her eyes, the light court are just being sneakier than their counterparts in regards to what they're doing to humans.

I snicker a bit. The fact that Mac is the new fae queen and she feels similarly to our girl is hilarious. With a sigh, I slink through the shadows, following my target. When she was younger, she'd be moving super fast all the time, cramming whatever food she could find into her mouth while she rubbernecked the events going on around her. She no longer takes food from people; vendors or those that buy their food from them. If anything, she's almost always giving away supplies she's finding or bartering for.

Mac's parents and those similar to them are doing everything in their power to bring the city back. Hell, even Ryodan did his part to try and get shit back on track. Dani's not a part of any particular group but she's a face that people recognize and she brings people's spirits up.

Today she's checking on how Rainey's pet projects are doing. There are dozens of community gardens that are thriving and due to the unnaturally mild weather brought on by Mac this year, growing has been extended and Dani has been dropping off packets of seeds from the abby's harvest. Earlier, she'd been rotating stock around; sheep, chickens, and a couple of cows. From what I can tell, the soup kitchens and clothing drop offs are next.

Today is going to be boring.

So very vital and necessary for the city, but boring for me.

Though it's getting dark, Dani shows no sign of getting ready to settle in at one of her cribs or head back to the abby. Every once in a while, I think she attempts to pull the normal act. None of us every tried it, we loved being what we were, but Dani's young. She's still thinking a term like normal applies to her.

She'll go to one of two clubs most likely, they don't welcome Fae and since there's no quick satisfaction to be gained by those that refused to cater to them, they never bothered to go to these small places of humanity. I could relax my guard just a bit, the music and lack of light in addition to her own desire to be distracted keeping me off her radar. She never drinks, but she dances with wild abandon and normally dances through most of the night. I think she sometimes shops around, looking for someone to get with, but in the end, she mostly gives up and goes to her loft to dance.

Pulling out my phone, foot tapping to a Heart song, I let Kasteo know he's spelling me tonight. Tucking my phone into my back pocket, I make bedroom eyes at a fresh young blond and smile. No club needed with this one. I'd rub my hands together but the eager little thing's already plastered against me.

The months continue to flow in this pattern. Visits to Barrons become more sporadic, stops at Chesters more frequent. WIth Ryodan gone a year, there's less keeping her away from the once packed club. Dani's wandering more and more towards the fae club too. I'm silently rooting for her to go in. If she does, I'd have to back her up.

But she behaves and I lament. I think she subconsciously knows that Ryodan hasn't left. She has no idea he's pretty much a mindless beast right now…I turn my face towards Barron's place and bare my teeth in Ryodan't general direction. He's probably losing his fucking mind buried so far under the ground; no killing, no sex. Nothing

How much longer is the Honey and Ryodan going to stubbornly ignore one another? How hard is to dial a damn number? Dani has Ryo's mark on her once more, the minute she hits send, he'll be there. A bit of a mindless monster but then Dani, along with Mac and a few other sidhe's now know something of what we are. I doubt she'd mind. As long as it's Ryo.

How much longer can this go on? We're used to living in the shadows, manipulating the world from behind the scenes, but for the past few years, it's been nice to be out in the open, known as the biggest bad asses out there. Now I've been reduced to hiding. From the kid.

I wonder if I should just drag Dani down to the basement of Barrons Books and Baubles and force them to pull their heads out. I snicker. That'd be hilarious until Ryodan snapped out of it and snapped my neck or some other unpleasant bullshit he could do.

Now we're a year and a half in. I cannot believe two people can be this fucking stubborn. Yeah. I get Ryo being a stubborn bastard, he's had three thousand fucking years to practice. Dani's what? Maybe twenty three? At the very least nineteen. Why's she digging her heels in? I want to fuck out in the open. This is driving me fucking bug fuck.

She's fucking dancing again. Maybe if I find a way to video her and show it to the boss, he'll stop this ridiculous nonsense and let myself, Fade, and Kasteo blow out of this town before Honey's thirty.

Fuck. Could I do seventeen years like this? Maybe. Fade and Kasteo though? That's a little harder to tell. If they left, I believe they'd come back, but I'm not sure if it would be for days or years at a time. I do know that I'd be royally fucked without someone to spell me for the brief times I need to eat and fuck.

Kasteo opened his fucking mouth today. I think he was almost ready to cuss either Dani or Ryodan out. Probably both. His mouth slammed shut.

I rolled my shoulders into a shrug, giving him a look that clearly said,"Yeah. I know brother."

Magic rocks Dublin. Not Fae, not Mac's version of their magic. While Dani dances, I eat as fast as I can then go and check it out. Or I was. It's gone.

That's a head scratcher. Sticking my hands in my back pockets, I rock back on my heels and look up. Laughter bubbles up in me and I let it loose into the night, scaring several small animals and a few people.

Finally, something's changing. Been fucking long enough.


	3. Chapter Three

_They may take a few detours, but they're never lost_

The beast in me knows that Ryodan's free before I realize it. The deep rattling in my chest surprises me and very nearly gives me away to Dani. I swear I nearly see her ears perk up at the sound but she's shoved most of us into "the box" in her mind. She won't believe that we're around and so she's got some binders on when it comes to the three of us still here.

I sniff the air then move up to a roof. What's coming isn't going to be interested in me. Though I don't think that Dani has finally cracked and called Ryo, I know the beast is going to go straight to her, drawn by the tattoo she'd allowed the boss to put back into her skin. I should care that they're finally going to reunite but in reality, I'm glad to be released from this duty.

I'm leaving Dublin. Once I get the wanderlust out of my system, I'll come back and spend some time with the Honey. Get a hug. Listen to whatever she's got to say to me instead of eavesdropping in on what she has to say to others.

Ryodan's weak too. Perhaps I'll kick him when he's a little down. I owe him for killing me after Jo, finding Mac's killing of me funny, and making me Dani's babysitter the past two years. The thought of it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

We'll have it out. Hopefully sooner rather than later. For now, I'm out.


End file.
